Huwaida Arraf, US. activist released from Israeli custody recounts raid on the phone from Ramallah; also joining her are Prof. Norman Finkelstein and Prof. Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to offer some analysis on the situation and for more on the international reaction and the U.S.’s involvement.

Finally, Laura reminds us all of some words on the U.S./Israel relationship from General David Petraeus.

In the middle of the night Monday, Israeli commandos boarded the “Freedom Flotilla” ships attempting to bring humanitarian aid to blockaded Gaza, killing 9-16 humanitarian activists, the exact numbers are still not known. The international community has reacted with shock and outrage; Protests rallies have erupted around the world. Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a meeting with President Obama and headed back to Israel to do damage control, and Turkey, from where the flotilla departed, has recalled its ambassador and issued a travel warning to its citizens.

Source: GRITtv

HUWAIDA ARRAF majored in Arabic and Judaic studies and political science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She also spent a year at theHebrew University in Jerusalem and studied Hebrew on a kibbutz. Arraf later earned a J.D. at American University’s Washington College of Law. Her focus was on International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, with a particular interest in war crimes prosecution. In May 2010 Arraf was aboard the Challenger 1, the largest ship of a humanitarian flotilla to Gaza, when the flotilla was attacked by the Israeli military. She is the chairperson for the Free Gaza Movement, the organization behind the flotilla.